The Light Ages by MacLeod, Ian R - 2003

Earthlight, 2003. 1st . Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 6.25" x 9.25. H/B 456 pages, condition is Very Good, small red mark to the flyleaf. Aether rules the world. Aether drives the engines, the telegraphs, the very lights of London. Through the power of aether, and through the secrets and mysteries of the guilds that wield it, England has created a mighty Industrial Age. It is a place of enchanted gardens and grimy terraces, smokestack factories and fantastic beasts. Yet in this great age of the world, Robert Borrows, the insignificant son of a Lesser Toolmaker, holds the key to the world's future. Raised in the Yorkshire town of Bracebridge, a place dominated by the pounding of mighty subterranean engines, Robert witnesses the dark side of aether when his mother is transformed into a changeling; less than human, terrible to see. Fleeing to London, he re-encounters the beautiful, mercurial and mysterious Anna Winters, who he first met on a trip to a strange white palace in happier times. Roaming the vast Brobdignagian city, all colours, smells and danger, exploring its myriad social layers, from petty criminals and revolutionaries to salon mistresses and opium dreamers, he discovers secrets that will lead him back towards the clouded hills of Bracebridge and the deepest mysteries of aether. For all is not well in England's green and pleasant land. This Age is ending, in fire and in death.